During the past year, there has been a growing discussion about shifting the power between large and small nonprofits, national and local charitable organizations, and among funders and nonprofit groups.
A group of corporate social responsibility professionals met recently to discuss the topic of how to shift power from funders (i.e., foundations and corporations) to their nonprofit grant recipients. They concluded that one way to achieve such a shift in power would be to transfer some of the required application work from the recipient organizations to the funders — an approach that is sure to be met with skepticism by foundation compliance officers worldwide.
While this approach to shifting power dynamics can sometimes be a viable approach to achieving more equity, asking parties to take on work that was previously not their responsibility — can create uncomfortable situations at best and strident backlash at worst.
Perhaps there is a different way.
Real partnerships between two or more parties can allow each party to come to the table with their strengths and weaknesses – and with their assets and liabilities – to create long-lasting and sustainable change. Nonprofits have the kind of expertise, experience and goodwill that funders – especially companies – want to be affiliated with. And, funders have financial resources, human capital and reach that nonprofits often need. Joining together to create and execute viable programs and initiatives can be a rewarding and mutually beneficial enterprise that allows each party to contribute their best.
I recently had the opportunity to engage in an online discussion with David Brown, the former chief preservation officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, about a partnership that we helped create with American Express – aptly called Partners in Preservation.
The Partners in Preservation program was a 12-year effort to bring more attention to important historic sites in communities around the United States by allowing the public to vote for their favorite historic site in order to unlock funding for preservation projects at these sites. Throughout the course of the program, over $25 million was distributed to over 250 historic sites entirely based on this public vote, which at times reached more than one million participants annually.
This partnership was created, developed, managed and evaluated entirely as a joint enterprise. The National Trust and American Express teams met regularly to iron out details, explore new ideas, execute tasks and evaluate results. This was not a case of the National Trust bringing an idea to American Express to fund or American Express creating a program and then looking for an entity to implement it.
Those are not real partnerships.
Real partnerships begin with a problem – in this case how to bring more attention to important historic sites in communities and neighborhoods – and then create an environment where ideas can be generated and discussed and creative solutions agreed upon, jointly developed and implemented.
What we created was a marriage of equals and a family of collaborators focused on a single vision.
Realistically, this kind of partnership does not exist in every situation. In some cases, one party will have more power and is willing to yield it. And, it can be difficult for a single entity to be involved in more than a few genuine partnerships at any one time.
However, the partnership mindset can be engaged in many more situations, and leaders can encourage their teams to approach possible collaborations with an open mind and desire for a level playing field.
It’s not easy, and it takes more time than applying for a grant or writing a check, but it is possible and doable as we have seen and experienced. A real partnership can bring lasting change and mutual respect to situations that can be fraught with power dynamics. And, in this case between one funder and one nonprofit, a lasting and successful collaboration for a cause.
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June 01, 2021 at 07:00PM
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Shifting Power Between Funders And Nonprofits Through Partnerships - Forbes
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